Politics is and has always been, not some sort of bloodless abstract pursuit, but it’s very much about the people who are in it, and this is part of that, and sex is part of that.

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Welcome to Politics Bites, where every afternoon at It's A Free Country, we bring you the unmissable quotes from the morning's political conversations on WNYC. Today on the Brian Lehrer Show,Ben Smith, senior political writer for Politico.com discusses the lewd tweet Representative Anthony Weiner sent out last week, and the controversy that’s ensued.

Weinergate! Briefgate! Twittergate!

What would we do if we didn’t have things like this to make up names for?

When a photo of a man’s brief-clad crotch was tweeted from Congressman Anthony Weiner’s account to that of a young Seattle woman this weekend, the story quickly grew from a tweet to a slew of corny headlines. Weiner initially said it was the work of a hacker, but he has since quietly lawyered up. Wiener himself declined to be interviewed for this story. Weiner has repeatedly denied sending that picture, but only asserted that he “could not say with certitude” that the photo was not him. While that lack of certitude has certainly caused some laughs, Ben Smith said what is really troubling is that it is so unclear what Weiner himself thinks happened.

It would be one thing if he was alleging that it was hacked and he had nothing to do with this and it was all sort of a plot against him. That’s all fairly straight forward. But now he’s saying that somebody else potentially had a picture of his genitals, and somehow put them on the internet from his account? I mean, anything is technically and physically possible, but suddenly, kind of a baroque explanation is required.

The woman herself initially told the Daily News that the photo was from a guy who had been harassing her for some time. Later, however, she seemed to backtrack, tweeting confusingly that she does not support, nor does she doubt the hacker theory.

Smith said she probably doesn’t know much more than anyone else, as the tweet in question was taken down before she saw it. He said she is handling the spotlight well.

She, being a 21 year old college kid, is far better at rapid response and online communications than any member of congress. She has handled this with great ease, in a way that most adult politicians would be envious of.

Hacking is a crime, but Weiner, instead of bringing in the police, has hired a lawyer and an investigator. Smith said it’s hard to know what is behind that course of action.

Hiring a private firm rather than going to the police suggests that maybe there’s something that you do not want to be shared publicly. But given that a picture of his erect penis was just shared publicly, what would that be? I don’t know. He’s just in a position where everyone is utterly puzzled.

Former Mayor Ed Koch suggested that Weiner might be reluctant to report it as a crime because if he did send the picture himself, the false reporting of a crime is also a crime. That is only speculation, however Smith said no plausible alternative explanation springs to mind.

The simplest explanation, obviously, is that he sent the thing.

One of the things that Smith pointed out as making it plausible that this was a hacking was the origin of the news. The photo was first noticed by a Twitter follower of Weiner’s who seems to have some sort of obsession with tracking Weiner’s interactions with young women.

When you have somebody making a case obsessively, you worry that that person creates evidence to prove that case, and when that person is the one to notice the evidence first, you worry about that a little. But if that’s what happened, then there’s really no reason for Anthony not to call the cops.

The person in question is a Twitter personality who goes by the name of Dan Wolfe. The politically-active conservative Twitter user tweeted weeks before the incident, on May 11th, that there would be an Anthony Weiner explicit photo scandal. Smith pointed out that no one really knows anything about Dan Wolfe, including if that is even his real name.

Weiner follows only a few hundred people himself, most of whom are either political colleagues or actual friends. There are recent allegations that aside from these two categories there is a number of attractive women who he also follows. Smith is skeptical about these allegations. He said there are men who Weiner follows as well as women, and that in fact at one point Weiner offered to follow anyone who tweeted him with the hash tag #weineryes.

I suppose there’s some debate about whether those people are disproportionately young women. It’s possible. He basically spends his time on MSNBC these days, which may be watched largely by young Democratic women… that may be who’s following him.. It seems to me that who you follow on Twitter is not the most interesting thing here. He also follows some unattractive guys.

A caller from Long Island said while the allegations are not surprising, he was a little disappointed by the frenzy around it.

I don’t see this kind of frenzy to get tot the bottom of the recession, I don’t see this kind of frenzy to find out why there are no charges from the Justice Department yet of any major players that caused the recession and all the fraud that took place. But a little photo of this kind on Twitter, and it’s like catnip.

Smith said he felt a little conflicted about covering this story. Though highly compelling, it does take advantage of what is either Weiner’s victimization or a person’s personal alleged sins.

Politics is and has always been not some sort of bloodless abstract pursuit, but it’s very much about the people who are in it, and this is part of that, and sex is part of that.

The local back story now, said Smith, is that the Democrats who might have expected to run against Weiner in the next mayoral election are calling into question whether he has the judgment necessary to be mayor.

You’re not seeing a unified Democratic front supporting Anthony, by any means. He's starting to step into the waters of a mayoral campaign here, and there’s a lot of jostling and others are looking at this as an opportunity to step ahead of him.

Comments [56]

@ ken mac - Prove that Weiner is a liar. You can't because he hasn't claimed anything one way or another. You must not be following the story closely otherwise you would understand that.

Sure call him creepy. Sure hate him. So what.

Doesn't matter because unlike other politicians who have broken the law or stated that they are above moral reproach when it comes to some presumed "kinkiness" in a sex scandal, Weiner has at no point claimed to be morally superior to others. He can't be called a hypocrite because he's not from the religious right so he literally has nothing to apologize for, especially when nothing has been determined. Kinda nice (and smart) to be socially liberal.

The reason why people are standing up for Weiner is because he is a good politician that serves the wishes of his constituents. Sounds to me that you are a reactionary right winger. Too bad you don't have a vote to get him out of office...

WOW, a lot of Weiner appologists around here. Do you morons actually still support this creep? Really? I would be ashamed to say I voted for this loud mouthed pervert to begin with. Now he lies to everyone (looking them in the eye as he does it) with some of the most ludicrous explanations ever spoken and you sheep are still supporting this smarmy, lying, creep. Well, there is your first problem NY, you elect this immature liar and downright worm to represent you... ???

Finally, I'm somewhat aghast at the wall-to-wall coverage of Weiner, that it's already being labeled on our TV's as "Weinergate."

Over the weekend I'd come across one of the DKos descriptions of what might very likely have gone down with Dan Wolfe (tweeting as Patriot76, iirc) who seemed to have a precog ability to tweet about things which had not yet happened.... And that Breitbart, whose long list of fake stings and exposes have not made him radioactive to the MCMers, was involved.

I figured this was one Breitbart attack which would be smothered by facts.

Instead, it's almost as if I'm back in the summer of 2001 -- and the MCM has decided Anthony Weiner will be their Gary Condit of the season.

Remember when some said 9/11 would mean the MCM would pay attention to serious issues? Like high unemployment, nominally around 9% but when all those without jobs who want jobs are counted is at least in the high teens if not low 20's? Think about that: ONE FIFTH of our population is un- or under-employed.

And this gets what kind of attention????

Jared Diamond in "Collapse" wrote that societies fail when the elites are too far removed from the pain changes are inflicting on the greater portion of that society. And our media elites--do they play a role in that disconnect? Our possible looming societal failure? The DC types sure don't seem very concerned about unemployment, not even its effect on the economy. Maybe losing office will cause them to think about such things....

Ray from Red Bank mentioned that Rachel Maddow did a segment on how these tech tricks work -- and said one of her producers had replicated the photoshop "hack" of a Tweet (in less time that it takes to make a two-minute egg) and a viewer had used a search to find the "private" and secret email to YFrog for one of Maddow's producers. The viewer then used the email address to send a photo to the YFrog account, and followed up with an account of what she'd been able to do with photo evidence.

So...the techniques are available and easy to do (I couldn't, with my very limited knowledge, but those somewhat more savvy would find it easy-peasy).

I've been having trouble posting this morning -- tried two different browsers -- same lack of response. Tried two different segment to test -- cldn't post. Is it me...or WNYC?

But, other commenters have brought up, complete with links to DKos (nicely presented, Steve from NY @ 10:15AM; nice addition to the info pool), blog posts which have looked at the technical issues is detail, sometimes mindboggling detail.

But, it seems pretty clear that the photo in question, no matter where it originated, was not sent by Weiner.

Also, I was not aware that every follower of Weiner received that photo -- anyone have a citation or link for that information? THNX!

The most amazing thing is the YFrog doesn't even require hacking -- it's just an issue withYFrog's set up that someone can access an account without a password and drop a photo into someone else's account. And get it Twittered! Big OOOOPS, YFrog developers.

I write as a non Twitter/YFrog user, so forgive any terminology mistakes. BUT, I've been amazed that almost every MCM report I've seen or read has no idea about these tech issues, which have been discussed in depth on the Internet for at least 4 days now.

i find it hard to believe that someone as media savvy as congressman weiner would make such a novice mistake. even if by some off chance he did send the photo, why should that reflect poorly on him as a member of congress, its not as if he is a "family values" guy. this has nothing to do with his policy positions, which is what we should be judging him by. sex scandals ruin the careers of hypocrites who rail against activities they themselves are participating in.

the fact that congressman weiner follows the twitter feeds of some attractive co-eds is a should be a non-issue. isnt the whole idea of twitter to follow peoples tweets? are we saying that only "attractive" people can be sexualized, that if he was following a bunch of fugly co-eds it wouldnt be an issue? this is so stupid.

congressman weiner has stated from the very beginning that his account was hacked. brian and his guest made this seem like an implausible idea. on the rachel maddow show last night she ran a segment that illustrated how simple it could be to hack into someones twitter/yfrog account and send a picture using the other persons account. also, she showed documents that stated most pictures congressman weiner posted on his yfrog account originated from his blackberry, however, the crotch picture did not have a picture origin.

although this story is somewhat entertaining, there are way more important issues going on in this country, that get no media coverage. the amount of time spent on this story is ludicrous and is diverging our attention from the real issues. this is exactly what the perpetrator wanted and we are playing right into their hands

I'm looking at "Weinergate" from a wider perspective. Not a month has gone by recently without some man in a position of responsibility and power getting into trouble for making an unwanted advance at a woman. And these incidents are always "irrational", regardless of whether the advance was accepted or not.

Jut this past month, we've seen sex scandals surrounding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), former senator John Edwards (D-NC), IMF chief Dominique Straus-Kahn (France-Socialist), and now Weiner (D-NY). Let's not forget that a special election for a House seat was also resolved in western NY state, prompted by the resignation of a Republican congressman who transgressed as Weiner "allegedly" did.

At what point do we ask ourselves this question: can men be entrusted with responsibility and power if they consistently act with such poor judgment?

Fifty years ago, many men claimed that women were not cut out for executive responsibility because they were too emotional and hormone-addled to make reasonable judgments. In subsequent years, women have proved this claim to be untrue. Given all the recent scandals involving men chasing women, have we reached a point where men are too emotional and hormone-addled to be trusted with power and responsibility?

This question has not yet crystallized in public debate. But it will soon.

1. Joe from Jersey states it succinctly.2. He's damned if he says too little and damned if he says too much. The press needs to cover significant news such as: a.expenditures for wars that are bankrupting us for what! ; b.the distaseful logjam in Congress and c.the fact that the "middle class" and unions are under attack as "scapegoats" for Bush's profligate spending and squandering the Clinton surplus and the Medicare Trust Fund!! 3.Who said that "anti-intellecuals" like Palin, Bachman and McDonnell plus opportunists like Trump, Beck and Palin should "define" the electoral debate and allow crooks to continue to steal from us and our progeny. Brian, I love you and your show and you know better. Let's help the Ameican people focus on where our counry is really going!!!

Assuming he did send it, that's between him and his wife, and maybe the recipient, though she does not seem to be upset. It's not a crime, and it has nothing to do with his service as a representative or his abilities as a potential mayor. Why are we such a bunch of prudes and busy-bodies??

@Nick, I agree that Americans can be too puritanical and hold our politicians up too highly, denying them a sex life. I can think of a couple politicians who were skewered unfairly.

However, sending a photo of genitals on-line could be considered harassment. If the girl came upon the pic unexpectedly, it could be traumatizing. Lastly, as someone pointed out, it questions the judgment of a potential mayor.

This discussion is adding not one iota of value to the story. Unsupported opinion and innuendo-- clearly the bulk of this segment-- do not "clarify the facts." BL is forever invoking the standards of "journalism" (as if his show were not primarily entertainment and the epitome of middlebrow analysis). Perhaps building a segment on this dreck, with a "senior political writer" from Politico.com (what a joke!) will give the lie to that nonsense.

BTW, how many times in the past several minutes has BL said "I don't want to..." and then proceeded to do just that?

The repeated fraud and fakery from Breitbart, and the fact that the mainstream media keeps falling for it, is the obvious real issue.

As IT people who actually know something have pointed out, for a whole bunch of reasons this is obviously a hack. Given how twitter works, it does not matter if the photo is him or not, still an obvious hack. see:

Events of the last couple of weeks -- Schwartzenegger, DSK, the Egyptian Bank Chairman, etc. -- have been illustrative of a significant aspect of the psychoses of folks in power, who we too often (consciously and unconsciously) defer to. We really must put them in perspective, and take heed.

What we need is someone (an ex-girlfriend, or ex-housemate like Jon Stewart) who can paraphrase Lloyd Bensen and authoritatively state: "I knew Anthony Weiner. Anthony Weiner was a friend of mine. This is not Anthony"s Weiner." :-)

A. Weiner is in fact acting a bit strange, but the bottom line is: why is this such a big deal? Any guy who would send a picture like this of himself is a loser and sleazy and I wouldn't want to date but why the uproar? It is not a crime. It is not even a betrayal. Only in the US where puritanism goes so hand in hand with a heightened "prurient interest" (to quote the esteemed justices) is this possible.

Well I've a bit of sympathy - I've lived with the "wiener" jokes for fifty years myself - but really! C'mon Anthony, you're no newbie to politics. No certitude? Did you expect that to really answer the issue?? I'm surprised.

Why is Ben Smith speaking of "Anthony"? If the two are friends, then Smith (or should I say "Ben") can hardly claim to be objective. (Not that he is anyway, or anybody else among the sycophantic grovelers at Politico.)

I heard someone describe this as Weiner's "wide stance" moment. He's given this incredibly baroque "well, there could be a picture of me and someone photoshopped underwear on..." Come on, Congressman. That may be the case (doubtful), but that's the defense of a guilty man. Either there's a picture of you in your underwear somewhere or there isn't. If there is, admit it. If not, say, "I don't take pictures in my underwear." Not this.

Washington Times columnist Jeff Kuhner----no friend of Weiner----stated on the Steve Malzberg Show Wednesday that he had information that makes him suspect that the Obama people hacked into Weiner's files and released the photos. Why? Because Weiner, a Clinton man, has been very critical of Obama admin.

Weiner has been using the internet to get laid. Fine. That's what single men do, legislator or anyone. But he messed with Obama, and Obama has destroyed people in this way. it's his MO from the chicago days.

If it was fraud, Weiner would be fighting back--not saying he's tired of talking about it.

We have enough examples of horny politicians getting caught, then saying something never happened AND then FINALLY admitting to their transgressions (with loving wife standing by their side)--what makes Weiner any different? Looks guilty to me.

The way he's been stressing that it's a prank and his reluctance to talk about it makes me think that he knows who did it and doesn't want to get the person in trouble. Someone who was with him at the gym or when he was changing did it, maybe pretending to do it and pressing the wrong button by mistake.

The alternative is that Weiner was dumb enough to do this, and dumb enough to do it on Twitter. I really have to hope that no adult, especially a public figure, would be that dumb.

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